Lynn Curry said states have the power to regulate people’s bodies in cases like vaccination as long as the state is protecting other people from harm.

Curry, a history professor, explained this at the Monday panel discussion “Who Owns Women’s Bodies? Lessons for History.”

“If Eastern was to develop smallpox, the state has the right to act upon it to prevent the spread of the virus,” Curry said.

Curry was one of four to discuss problems with body images that have occurred in recent history at the panel that was part of Women’s History and Awareness Month. The topics discussed included abortion, prostitution, women in the work force and cosmetic images.

Curry brought up the point that if the government overturned Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion in the U.S., the country would go back to the way it was before.

“If we bring states back in, are we opening a door to say a woman is required to have an abortion?” Curry said.

History professor Sace Elder was also a panelist, and she discussed the regulation of prostitution in 19th and 20th century Europe.

Elder brought up the issue that prostitution was legal in Europe as long as women registered. However, Elder said when they registered, they were signing their bodies over.

“Forcing women to register was a violation of women’s liberties,” Elder said.

Many people in the audience agreed.

“It was interesting to learn that prostitution was legal, but there was a ‘but’ that went along with it,” said Morgan Prestage, a senior political science major.

As for women in the work force, history professor Ruth Fairbanks brought up the time in history when the Fetal Protection Policy went into effect to help protected pregnant women from being harmed in the work place.

She explained how all women were given limited hours when men’s hours were not limited because one day the women may have a child.

However, she said that if the work was harmful to women’s bodies that the work was also harmful to men’s bodies as well. As a result, the state then took men’s health into consideration as well as women’s.

The cosmetic images of Eastern Asian women was a topic introduced by Jinhee Lee, a panelist and history professor.

She discussed how many more Asian-American women were changing their appearances to gain higher positions in the work place because they would look more beautiful and then gain a better job.

“Many women were relying on physical appearances rather than on other appearances for upward nobilities in the work place,’ Lee said.

Curry explained that a choice is something related to a consumer item as apposed to the rights in the constitution and if people look at these issues like that, then maybe we can answer the question of, “who owns women’s bodies?”

Karla Browning can be reached at 581-7942 or at kmbrowning@eiu.edu.